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DESTINATIONS SYROS | GREECE & CYPRUS


CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: Some of the group pictured at Vaporia, Ermoupoli; Greek and dakos salads at a restaurant in Ermoupoli; dining with a view over the harbour; Ano Syros PICTURES: Shutterstock; Katie McGonagle; Matt Eadie


top tip


Travellers to Greece must fill in a Passenger Locator Form (PLF) at least 24 hours before departure, and complete a UK government questionnaire on their return


of the architectural character and the elegant neoclassical buildings. At the same time, this is where a new type of musical genre called rebetiko started, which is like the Greek version of the blues. It’s the music of the lower classes. Everything you hear in rebetiko is about pain, exile, broken hearts, and it’s coming back – right now, a lot of young people are learning to play the bouzouki, which is the basic instrument of rebetiko. “On the longer trips we do to Mykonos, Santorini


and Syros, people tell me they love Syros the most because we get to know the people. They want authenticity and real life, and you can find that here.”


TOURING RESTARTS


As well as discovering the charm and character of Syros, seeing what group tours might look like in the wake of Covid-19 was just as much of an eye-opener. Pleasingly, it operated much like any other departure, with a few extra considerations along the way. At the welcome meeting, guide Vasiliki gave us all a health questionnaire, and with no symptoms or Covid contacts to report, we were able to relax the need for physical distancing or masks within our group, although they were still required in taxis, ferries and public spaces such as museums or shops. That included visiting a local producer to see traditional Syros sweet loukoumia being made – although we did still manage to try a few bites despite the masks! Intrepid switched its usual preference for public


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transport in Athens and Syros for private taxis, while bar and restaurant staff wore plastic visors. Hand sanitiser was ubiquitous, and enhanced hygiene measures in each hotel included a temperature check on arrival in Athens, a served buffet and perhaps my favourite – clingfilm on the air con and TV remote controls, which was a low-tech but effective way to minimise the number of touchpoints around the room. Other than a few small adaptations here and there


– no more annoying than wearing a mask to Tesco or providing contact details at a pub – the trip did exactly what it was supposed to do, introducing us to a new destination while providing much-needed income for a local guide, small family-run hote and countless taxi drivers, shops, cafes and restaurants along the way. As we gathered for dinner on our last night in Syros, feasting on traditional mezze in the open-air courtyard of Tsipouradiko 50-50 high up in Ano Syros, the strains of rebetiko music playing in the background, it seemed like a good first step towards the much-lauded ambition for travel to rebuild more responsibly than before.


TW BOOK IT


Intrepid Travel’s Greece Retreat: Syros Island starts at £780 land-only, including a guided tour of the Acropolis, four nights in Syros, a half-day trip to Mykonos, with ferry travel, breakfasts, one dinner and a tour leader. intrepidtravel.com/uk


20 AUGUST 2020 27 NEW TOURS


Zina Bencheikh, managing director EMEA, Intrepid Travel “Safety has always been the number-one priority for us, so we came up with the idea of creating these retreats. These trips are much shorter, with a maximum group size of 12, and mostly based in one place; from there, we do activities in the area. We looked into accommodation, food, transport and making sure we are respecting the local regulations, which we need to consider in addition to our global guidelines. Our UK cycling retreats in the Lake District and Peak District have been extremely popular, and in Europe, Greece and Iceland are looking very good.”


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